## Huntsville’s new answer to cheap drones arrived with goggles required
A Huntsville, Alabama, defense team gave observers a close look this week at a mobile laser system built for one of the military’s fastest-growing problems: hostile drones.
KBR and its Huntsville-based subsidiary Kord demonstrated FIREFLY, a high-energy laser weapon designed to find, track, and defeat unmanned aircraft before they can threaten U.S. forces, public gatherings, or critical infrastructure.
Before the test began, attendees had to put on laser-protection goggles. A live display showed the system’s sensors and AI-assisted targeting following a drone. Then the laser disabled it.
According to Axios, the truck-mounted 20-kilowatt system took down the quadcopter in less than four seconds.
## What FIREFLY is designed to do
Kord officials said FIREFLY’s onboard batteries provide about 15 minutes of total “laser-on time.” They also said the system can be deployed in roughly 30 minutes and that an operator can learn the controls in as little as five minutes.
The system is meant to address a hard battlefield reality: drones can be inexpensive, numerous, and difficult to stop with traditional weapons without spending far more on interceptors than the target costs.
Directed-energy systems such as lasers are being pursued because they may offer a lower-cost way to defeat certain drones when weather, range, power, and line-of-sight conditions allow.
## ‘This is a homegrown product’
KBR’s David Zoller framed the demonstration as a product of Huntsville’s defense community.
“This is a homegrown product,” Zoller said, according to WAFF.
“I think often we can look at the work that happens in Huntsville, you see Redstone, you see all the traffic and everything, and you kinda have to wonder what’s going on over there,” Zoller continued. “Well, it’s protecting the people, and this is one of the methods that we’re doing it.”
Huntsville is closely associated with Redstone Arsenal and a large network of defense, aerospace, and technology contractors.
## Lasers are not the only directed-energy bet
The FIREFLY demonstration comes as major defense firms are pushing other ways to counter drone swarms.
Lockheed Martin recently unveiled MORFIUS X-Rotor, a reusable, ground-launched aircraft that carries a high-power microwave payload. The company says the system is intended to neutralize more than 50 enemy drones during a single flight.
Unlike a laser that focuses energy on a target, MORFIUS is described by Lockheed Martin as flying into or near a drone group and using microwave energy to disrupt electronics. The company says the aircraft is designed to be recovered and reused after a mission.
## The bigger issue: cost and scale
The appeal of systems such as FIREFLY and MORFIUS is not just speed. It is economics.
Modern conflicts have shown how small drones can threaten vehicles, bases, infrastructure, and troops at relatively low cost. Firing expensive missiles at every cheap unmanned aircraft can quickly become unsustainable.
That is why defense companies are racing to develop systems that can defeat drones at lower cost per engagement. Lasers, microwaves, electronic warfare, guns, and intercepting drones are all part of the broader counter-drone push.
FIREFLY’s demonstration does not mean every tactical question is settled. Real-world performance can depend on conditions such as weather, target type, available power, training, maintenance, and integration with existing military systems.
But the Huntsville test shows where the counter-drone fight is heading: faster detection, cheaper shots, and weapons designed for a battlefield where the threat may arrive in swarms.
